IRVING
— In the wake of a game that took more effort to lose than to stand strong and
win, the Cowboys continue to accept blame, explain philosophy and make
assurances that all will be behind them once they take the field for Sunday’s
game.

Head coach Jason Garrett again said Tony Romo should not have thrown the ball
that was the first of the quarterback’s two interceptions in the final three
minutes of the loss to Green Bay. He should have stuck with the run play that
was called.

“I should have done a better job, the staff should have done a better job,
Tony should have done a better job,” Garrett said.

There you have it. A mea culpa from Garrett to go with the ones given by Romo
and receiver Cole Beasley — the target on Romo’s final interception — after the
37-36 loss. And while Garrett acknowledges that the Cowboys should have run more
in the second half to protect an evaporating 23-point lead, he doesn’t sound
like a coach ready to go all in on the run these final two games.

“I think they had five drives in the second half, all were touchdown drives,”
Garrett said Monday afternoon. “So as a football team to say, ‘We are just going
to kind of sit here and run it and maybe have some bad runs and punt it,’ I
don’t think that was the right strategy. We felt like it was important for us to
stay aggressive.”

Garrett quickly followed that comment by saying a team can be aggressive when
it runs the football. His actions say otherwise.

Garrett can talk all he wants about being aggressive. The Cowboys are not.
“Passive aggressive” is a more accurate label. The Cowboys take what the defense
gives them and want to exploit that by spreading the ball around.

That’s fine when it works. But too often, you get the sense the offensive
triumvirate of Garrett, Romo and offensive coordinator Bill Callahan call plays
dictated by what they’re not. The need compensate for what they can’t do
overrides what they do best.

You can’t run DeMarco Murray on first down because if he doesn’t pick up
enough yards, the team will be forced to pass the next two downs. You can’t run
him on second down because you need to stay out of third-and-medium and
third-and-long because this team is so bad on third down.

You can’t run him on third-and-short because the defense will be expecting
it, and then you will have to punt the ball and put your pitiful defense on the
field.

Fear drives the Cowboys’ strategy and performance these days more than
confidence. It’s as if they expect the worst. Now, how does this mesh with
Garrett’s overriding offensive philosophy?

“If you’re the best third-down team in the league, you convert maybe 50
percent of your third downs. So figure out the math on that,” Garrett said.
“You’d better make some first downs on first down. You’d better make some first
downs on second down, and you’d better make those third downs manageable.”

When a team needs 10 yards for a first down, its chances are better through
the air than on the ground. That explains why the Cowboys don’t run more. It
explains why Packers nose tackle Ryan Pickett and cornerback Tramon Williams
spoke of the Cowboys’ reputation for not sticking with the run.

Murray has rushed for 518 yards in his past five games with an average of 6.2
yards a carry. He has broken off runs of 11, 21, 30, 35 and 41 yards, yet he did
not have more than 18 carries in any of those games.

The Cowboys have been unable to run effectively and consistently for so long,
it’s almost as if Garrett and Callahan refuse to believe their eyes.

“You have to keep trying to give him opportunities if they’re worthwhile,”
Garrett said. “But again, we’re trying to move the football and score points.
That’s our objective.”

The objective is to win. The Cowboys failed to do so Sunday because Murray
ran only seven times in the second half for a team that took a 23-point lead
into the third quarter. He ran only twice after the Cowboys held a 29-10
lead.

If the Cowboys do jump to a lead on Washington on Sunday afternoon, will it
be any different?

Follow David Moore on Twitter at @ DavidMooreDMN.

Running in place

Even though DeMarco Murray has run much more effectively in recent weeks, the
Cowboys have been reluctant to increase his workload.

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